Even After All These Years
by kristy87
Summary: After seven years an old friend asks Gary for help. GaryErica...yes I know I'm probably the only GaryErica shipper in the world lol


Disclaimer: I do not own Gary, Erica and Henry :(

AN: First try at Early Edition an fic ever. So be nice :-D I don't have a beta reader, so all mistakes are min, be warned!

Summary: After seven years an old friend asks Gary for help. Gary/Erica

* * *

**Even After All These Years**

It had been a stressing morning; all he wanted to do now was taking a hot shower and getting some rest before he would go on his second tour in the afternoon. He was so glad when he finally reached the entry of the McGintys; quickly he entered and tried to sneak his way through the room to reach the door to his office. He had almost reached it when he heard an all too familiar voice behind him.

"Gary?" She asked softly, her voice trembling a bit.

He turned around; his heart skipped a beat when he saw her. Even after all these years, it was hard to believe. "Erica," He wanted to say so many things, all those things that he had wanted to tell her back then before she had left. But he couldn't, he was speechless.

"Hi." She forced a smile, trying to hide her insecurity from him.

He wondered why she had come there. After the letter she had written him back then he thought he'd never see her again. "Hi." He replied, still not able to think one straight thought.

She looked at him with pleading eyes. "I... I need your help." She eventually managed to speak.

He nodded quickly; he opened the door to his office and guided her in. He closed the door behind them and signalized her to take a seat. She did so, while he remained standing, not able to take his eyes off her. "What happened?"

"Michael... Michael talked Henry into moving to Chicago with him and..." She started to shake and tears ran down her cheeks. "I... I know he's gambling again and he will use Henry to... I...I tried to find them but he obviously doesn't want to be found so it's impossible..."

He stepped closer to her and kneeled down, taking her hands into his. "Erica, shhh, it's okay. I'll help you to find him." He had no idea how he should do that, but it seemed like Erica had tried everything in her possibilities to find her ex husband and her son and nothing had worked so he was her last hope.

"I... I don't know what to do anymore. And I can't go to the police..." She sobbed harder now.

He pulled her into his arms and tried to comfort her the best he could. "We'll find him, don't worry."

She twined her arms around him like he was the last blade of grass she could cling on to before falling down into a deep black hole. She was shaking like a leaf in his arms, burying her face into his shirt. "Thank you." She managed to say between two sobs.

He held her for a long time until she calmed down and slightly pulled away. "Thank you." She said again.

He gave her a soft smile and wiped the tears away from her cheek with his thumb. He knew why she couldn't go to the police, they would lock Michael away and she didn't want to do that to Henry. He remembered how the little boy had looked up to his father back then when he had met Michael for the first time. He hadn't liked him and had been able to feel how much Erica despised Michael, but Henry loved his father and that was why Erica had never really managed to draw a final stroke with him.

"I... I thought maybe, maybe the paper..." She got nervous again. This obviously wasn't easy for her. She felt like she was taking advantage of him.

There hadn't been anything in the paper, at least not that he had noticed. "Let's go through it together." Maybe two pairs of eyes would see more than just one. And if there was nothing in tomorrow's paper, then maybe there would be something in the next one. Although he really hoped that Henry and Michael would not get into a situation where they'd needed to be saved by him.

He still wondered what else he could do to help her finding them. He had good contacts to an officer from the CPD; maybe he could call him and ask him for a favor. He couldn't tell Erica about that though, she wouldn't want that, but if it was their last chance then he'd do it.

She was already going through the first pages while he had another idea. "This weekend the horse races start again..."

She looked up to him, an asking look on her face.

"It might be far fetched, but Michael used Henry before to increase his chances to win." He shrugged. "Maybe he'll try that again."

"Don't you think he had enough of that after the last time?"

"Who knows? I mean Henry knows about the paper, when he's in Chicago and his father asks him to help him with the bets again, maybe he shows up here. When he wants to impress his father then he might try."

She sighed. "I don't know... I mean yes, probably Michael would try to make Henry help him with the bets, but I don't think Henry would come here to ask you for the race results."

He opened the paper and went through the sport part when a small article caught his attention. _Bet Fraud blighted. On late Saturday afternoon a father and his son were arrested for attempted bet cheating on several horse races..._ His eyes widened. "We have to hurry up." He told her quickly.

With panic in her eyes their gazes met. "What... what will happen?"

Should he really tell her? He had to; he couldn't hide the truth from her. "They'll be arrested for attempted bet cheating."

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I knew it. I knew he would have such an influence on Henry."

He pulled her into his arms again and gave her a tight hug. "Everything will be fine. We'll get Henry out of there." He promised, praying that he would be able to not break this promise.

She leaned her head against his and sighed softly. "Thank you Gary." She opened her eyes again. "I,"

He placed his index finger over her lips and silenced her. "We need to hurry, we have to get there a.s.a.p."

She nodded and followed him out.

They were lucky to catch a taxi rather quickly. Erica stared out of the window for the whole drive, while Gary couldn't take his eyes off her, his hand gently holding hers. They were silent, he knew that she was lost in thoughts and he didn't want to disturb her. Only when they had reached the racecourse she turned to face him. He helped her to get out of the car, paid the driver and asked him to wait until they returned while she waited impatiently by his side.

They hurried through the corridors until they found the betting office. They could spot neither Michael nor Henry in there at first. Erica was close to a break down. "We missed them, we're too late." Tears ran over her face again.

Gary felt his heart ache. She must feel so lost. Henry meant everything to her; the mere thought of him getting arrested because of his father's bad influence on him must break her heart. Once again he pulled Erica into a tight embrace, letting her cry on his shoulder. He caressed her back while she was sobbing relentlessly in his arms. Once again he let his gaze wander through the room when he spotted a red haired boy in Henry's age. He hadn't seen him for 7 years so he wasn't really sure that it was him, but it was worth a try. "Erica." He whispered softly. "Erica, over there, is that Henry?"

She looked up and immediately spotted her son in the crowd. "Oh thank you God." She whispered and ran over to Henry.

Gary didn't know whether to follow her or not. So he remained where he was, watching how she twined her arms securely around Henry. First he seemed like he wanted her to leave but then he followed her over to Gary.

"We need to leave." Gary told them quickly, he had already spotted two officers entering the office through a second entrance across the room.

Henry and Erica followed him out and they entered the taxi as fast as they could.

* * *

Later when they had reached Gary's apartment they had dinner together, afterwards Henry went to bed while Gary and Erica went downstairs. 

"Thank you so much again." She told him softly after he had gotten them something to drink and had taken a seat next to her.

He smiled softly at her. "You're welcome."

"I... I know I took advantage of you, I'm so sorry for that. I just..."

"Erica," He interrupted her. "I owed you something. It was okay, really."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why did you owe me something?"

He shrugged. "For all the pain I caused back then." He told her shyly.

She reached up for his cheek and caressed it with her thumb. "I missed you." She confessed.

He placed his hand on hers. "I missed you too."

"Did you ever think about my question? I mean..."

He gave her a soft smile. "You mean when you asked me what had changed in my life since I met you?"

She nodded softly.

"A lot of things had changed. In fact, you changed my whole world but I didn't notice until you left."

Slowly their lips got closer until he could feel her breath upon the skin of his chin and lips. "Do you think that," She spoke almost inaudible. "There would be a chance for us, after all this time?"

"I hope so." He closed the gap between them. Now he had found what he had been missing in all the years since she had left him.

* * *

THE END


End file.
